Thomas  Scott  and  his  descendants,  Fatehgarh,  India.  Mr.  Scott  was 
an  orphan  and  rescued  by  the  Mission  in  1837 — 75  years  ago. 

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FOREIGN 

MISSIONS 

A  Gospel  Exhibit 


Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  U.  S,  A.,  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 


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FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

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FOREIGN  Missions  are  no  longer  an  experiment. 

The  Christian  Church  believes  in  sending  the  Gos¬ 
pel  to  the  whole  world.  The  results  of  seventy- 
five  years  of  organized  effort  leave  no  room  for  the 
doubter.  The  evangelization  of  the  whole  world  has  been 
brought  within  the  range  of  the  possible. 


“That  which  distinguished  the  Edinburgh  Conference,”  writes 
Dr.  Cairns,  in  the  International  Review  of  Missions,  “from  all 
previous  conferences  of  the  kind  was  its  deep  sense  of  the  prac¬ 
ticability  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  This  is,  of  course,  involved  in 
the  very  nature  of  the  revelation  of  God  as  the  Almighty  Father, 
of  Christianity  as  the  final  and  universal  religion,  and  of  the  central 
principle  of  the  Christian  life  that  to  faith  all  things  are  possible. 
But  it  was  not  only  in  its  insistence  on  these  first  principles  of 
Christianity,  but  in  its  constructive  ideal,  and  in  its  methodical 
survey  of  the  whole  world  field  and  of  the  actual  and  latent  re¬ 
sources  of  the  home  church  for  the  winning  of  the  whole  world 
that  this  conviction  was  expressed  with  a  clearness  and  force 
which  have  never  before  been  attained.  In  part,  this  was  due  to 
the  great  expansion  of  the  world  mission  which  has  brought  the 
aim  of  world  evangelization,  which  had  hitherto  seemed  merely 
ideal,  within  the  horizon  of  the  possible.” 

3 


This  is  a  great  gain,  but  Foreign  Missions  has  bestowed  a 
still  greater  boon  in  giving  an  Exhibit  to  the  Church  of  the 
full  content  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom. 

The  Foreign  Missionary  has  shown  to  the  Church 
that  the  Bible  is  a  Missionary  Book. 

“The  best  commentary  yet  written  on  the  Bible  is  the  mis¬ 
sionary  record  of  the  last  century,”  writes  Dr.  Jones,  in  The^ 
Modern  Missionary  Challenge”;  “it  is  a  suggestive  fact  that  it  has 
been  left  to  our  age  to  discover  the  Bible  as  a  missionary  book! 
and  to  interpret  its  deepest  thought  and  highest  sentiments  in  the 
language  of  a  missionary  manifesto.  It  is  also  a  striking  fact  that 
some  of  the  most  inspiring  missionary  texts  and  the  most  confi¬ 
dent  prophecies  of  the  universal  prevalence  and  dominion  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  are  found  in  the  Old  Testament,  in  connection 
with  the  life  and  history  of  the  Jews— one  of  the  narrowest  and 
most  exclusive  people  of  our  race.” 

“The  Gospel  not  only  contains  the  missionary  idea,  but 
it  is  the  missionary  idea  and  nothing  else,”  writes  Dr. 
Horton. 

Lord  Curzon,  in  his  “Problems  of  the  Far  East,”  in  dis¬ 
cussing  Christian  Missions,  states: 

“That  it  is  an  unsafe  thing  to  base  a  great  enterprise 
upon  a  single  passage  which,  after  all,  the  critics  may  pres¬ 
ently  throw  doubt  upon.” 

In  some  obscure  quarters  there  are  Christians  who  labor 
under  the  delusion  that  the  only  Foreign  Mission  texts  in 
the  Bible  are  those  containing  the  last  command  of  our 


4 


Lord,  commonly  called  the  Great  Commission,  and  the 
Seventy-second  Psalm.  Dr.  Eugene  Stock,  for  many  years 
the  honored  secretary  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
and  now  secretary  emeritus,  has  recently  made  a  study  of 
the  annual  sermons  preached  at  the  Anniversary  meetings 
of  this  society.  Of  111  published  sermons,  not  less  than  94 
different  texts  were  used.  In  the  first  25  years  no  preacher 
chose  the  last  command  of  our  Lord  as  a  text.  Such  texts 
as,  “I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me,”  “Ye 
are  the  light  of  the  world,”  “Other  sheep  I  have,”  “All  souls 
are  mine,”  and  similar  passages  which  are  shot  through 
with  the  missionary  idea,  were  the  texts  chosen  by  the 
preachers.  Of  these  94  texts  21  were  from  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment  and  73  from  the  New.  This  is  the  record  of  one  so¬ 
ciety  once  a  year.  It  is  typical  of  how  the  whole  church 
led  by  the  foreign  missionary  has  found  the  missionary  mes¬ 
sage  writ  large  in  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  only  in  recent 
days  that  the  Church  has  discovered  the  real  message  of 
the  Book  of  Jonah.  This  book  is  a  great  missionary  mani¬ 
festo. 

A  failure  to  recognize  the  full  content  of  the  Gospel  mes¬ 
sage  has  caused  some  timid  souls  to  fear  lest  the  Church 
has  lost  the  spiritual  motive  in  Foreign  Missions.  An  ar¬ 
ticle  in  a  recent  number  of  the  “Herald  and  Presbyter 


5 


asserted  that  the  Church  had  lost  the  spiritual  motive  which 
moved  Morrison  and  Carey,  Judson  and  Livingstone.  The 
writer  states  that  “The  mind  is  fixed  upon  the  material 
rather  than  upon  the  spiritual  condition  of  those  who  sit  in 
darkness.”  I  doubt  the  accuracy  of  this  statement.  The 
writer  has  failed  to  see  the  large  content  of  the  missionary 
message.  What  is  the  missionary  warrant?  In  Matt. 
11:4-5,  we  read  the  words  of  the  Master  Himself:  “Go  and 
tell  John  again  those  things  which  ye  do  see  and  hear. 
The  blind  receive  their  sight  and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers 
are  cleansed  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and 
the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them.”  The  foreign 
missionary  is  putting  the  right  emphasis  on  the  things 
which  can  be  “heard  and  seen,”  the  result  of  a  spiritual 
propaganda.  That  word  “spiritual”  has  been  much  abused. 
It  has  been  forced  to  carry  burdens  which  neither  it  nor 
its  fathers  were  able  to  bear.  There  are  heresies  which 
fail  to  note  the  full  content  of  scripture,  which  are  quite 
as  damnable  as  those  which  fail  to  recognize  that  the  Bible 
IS  the  WTord  of  God.  A  whole  Gospel  for  a  whole  man  is 
the  exhibit  which  Foreign  Missions  has  shown  in  this 
century  of  Missions.  In  an  article  in  “The  East  and 
West,”  on  “Social  Changes  in  the  East,”  the  writer,  Dr. 
Capen,  declares: 


6 


“The  supreme  purpose  of  the  foreign  missionary  is  to  bring 
individuals  into  vital  contact  with  a  living  Saviour  and  to  make 
the  principles  of  Christ  dominant  in  their  lives.  It  cannot  be  as¬ 
serted  too  often  or  too  earnestly  that  the  work  of  the  missionary 
is  pre-eminently  spiritual.  His  first  task  is  the  winning  of  indi¬ 
vidual  men  and  women  to  a  new  life  in  fellowship  with  Christ 
and  his  primary  purpose  is  the  planting  of  the  Church  and  of 
Christian  institutions.  .  .  .” 

But  he  adds :  “The  ultimate  aim  of  the  missionary,  how¬ 
ever,  as  of  the  Church  itself,  does  not  stop  here.  There  is 
no  resting  until  the  whole  life  of  the  world  is  Christianized, 
until  all  institutions  and  customs  are  brought  into  harmony 
with  the  principles  of  Jesus,  and  until  men  in  all  their  re¬ 
lations  to  one  another  act  as  the  children  of  the  one 
Father.,, 

This  article  discusses  at  length  the  changes  in  the  East 
wrought  by  the  missionary.  The  motive  which  led  the 
missionary  was  spiritual  in  the  large  use  of  that  word.  A 
spiritual  motive  which  affected  the  whole  social  order.  The 
most  significant  illustration  of  this  theme  may  be  seen  in 
the  attitude  of  the  missionary  toward  international  peace. 
Prof.  Cairns,  in  a  suggestive  article  on  “International 
Peace,”  has  this  significant  statement: 

“If  war  had  broken  out  last  summer  between  Britain  and  Ger¬ 
many,  there  would  in  all  probability  have  been  a  sea  fight  on  the 
waters  of  Lake  Nyassa,  in  full  view  of  the  wild  tribes  who  have 
just  been  redeemed  from  a  condition  of  incessant  warfare.  No 

7 


man  has  ever  suggested  a  doubt  that  the  turning  of  the  energies 
of  the  Angoni  into  the  manifold  peaceful  industries  and  arts  taught 
at  Livingstonia,  the  Iona  of  tropical  Africa,  marks  a  great  rise  in 
civilization.  What  is  even  more  to  our  purpose  in  this  connec¬ 
tion  is  that  to-day  it  is  easier  for  an  Angoni  to  believe  in  God,  to 
pray  to  Him,  to  receive  His  spirit,  and  to  love  His  fellow-men  than 
it  was  a  few  years  ago.  But  we  cannot  have  it  both  ways.  If 
these  things  are  true,  a  European  war  would  be  due  to  the  re¬ 
surgence  of  the  savage  in  the  civilized  state,  and  would,  broadly 
regarded,  brutalize  the  whole  life  of  Christendom  just  as  the 
Thirty  Years’  War  did  in  its  day.  It  would  make  it  harder  for  us 
all  to  believe  in  God  and  to  love  our  fellow-men.” 

Readers  of  “Daybreak  in  Livingstonia/’  or  “Among  the 
Wild  Ngoni,”  are  familiar  with  the  transformation  wrought 
on  the  shores  of  Lake  Nyassa  within  a  generation.  Lake 
Nyassa  is  in  the  territory  of  British  Central  Africa  and 
German  East  Africa.  A  war  between  Germany  and  Great 
Britain  would  necessitate,  no  doubt,  a  sea  contest  on  the 
waters  of  Lake  Nyassa.  Can  any  one  question  that  this 
would  be  a  recrudescence  of  savagery,  a  flinging  away  of 
the  ethics  and  morals  and  spirit  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount?  The  change  at  Nyassa  is  no  different  from  that 
which  can  be  seen  in  Uganda,  in  Lovedale,  in  Rhodesia,  in 
Kamerun,  or  in  many  mission  fields-  No  more  powerful 
argument  was  ever  presented  against  war  than  this  state¬ 
ment  of  Prof.  Cairns,  but  no  fuller  or  clearer  exhibit  has 
been  shown  of  what  the  Gospel  is  and  what  it  contains. 
The  Christian  Church  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Nyassa  is  no 


8 


different  from  the  Christian  Church  at  Elat,  or  Pyeng  Yang, 
or  Dumaguete,  or  Allahabad,  or  Tabriz,  for  these  all  are 
a  part  of  a  Gospel  whose  aim  in  the  world  is  to  bring  in 
the  reign  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  “As  the  Father  hath  sent 
me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  sent  you.”  The  Church 
recognizes  as  never  before  the  full  content  of  this  wondrous 
saying  of  her  Lord. 

The  Foreign  Missionary  has  shown  the  true  rela- 
tion  between  Church  and  State. 

The  old  question:  “Is  it  lawful  for  us  to  give  tribute  unto 
Caesar  or  no?”  is  still  being  asked,  and  must  be  answered. 
The  missionary  has  given  the  best  exhibit  of  the  true  rela¬ 
tion  between  the  Church  and  the  State,  the  best  commen¬ 
tary  on  Christ’s  wonderful  answer,  “Render,  therefore,  unto 
Caesar  the  things  which  be  Caesar’s,  and  unto  God  the 
things  which  be  God’s.” 

The  world’s  unrest,  so  much  in  evidence  to-day,  is  due 
in  part  at  least  to  the  missionary.  No  intelligent  student 
doubts  that  the  planting  of  Christian  institutions  among 
non-Christian  peoples  has  introduced  new  ideas,  new  ideals, 
taught  the  sanctity  of  human  life,  the  reality  of  moral  obli¬ 
gation  and,  of  necessity,  produced  great  unrest  and  great 
progress. 

Protestant  missionaries  have  for  the  most  part  kept  them- 


9 


selves  free  from  all  political  entanglements  in  the  prosecu¬ 
tion  of  their  work.  Any  missionary  or  group  of  mission¬ 
aries  who  should  attempt  to  lead  a  movement  adverse  to 
the  government  in  the  country  in  which  they  are  laboring 
would  be  called  home  at  once.  A  young  American,  a  teach¬ 
er  in  one  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission  schools  in  Persia,  fired 
by  a  noble  impulse,  took  up  arms  in  defense  of  Persia.  He 
died  as  a  hero,  but  the  moment  he  allied  himself  to  a  polit¬ 
ical  party  the  missionaries,  though  they  loved  him,  would 
not  even  consider  him  as  a  teacher.  “The  weapons  of  our 
warfare  are  not  carnal  but  spiritual.”  There  is  little  unrest 
in  Tibet,  or  Bokhara,  or  Afghanistan,  or  Khiva,  or  even  in 
many  parts  of  Arabia,  where  the  foot  of  the  missionary  has 
rarely  trod.  In  Mexico,  Persia,  Japan,  Korea,  China,  Af¬ 
rica,  we  see  great  political  and  social  changes.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  has  been  teaching  and  preaching  and  living  the 
Gospel  in  these  countries  for  many  years,  but  he  has  kept 
himself  and  the  Church  which  he  represents  entirely  aloof 
from  all  revolutionary  movements. 

Dr.  Barton,  in  the  “Missionary  Herald,”  writes: 

“Under  Abdul-Hamid  in  Turkey  native  preachers  who  were 
known  to  participate  in  revolutionary  propaganda  were  always 
summarily  dismissed  from  missionary  service,  and  active  revolu¬ 
tionary  students  in  missionary  schools  were  sent  to  their  homes. 
•  .  .  Only  a  few  weeks  ago  the  Grand  Vizier  of  the  Turkish 
cabinet,  in  conference  with  the  American  ambassador  at  Constan- 


10 


tinople,  raised  an  objection  to  the  extension  of  American  mission¬ 
ary  schools  in  Turkey,  ‘because,’  said  he,  ‘they  are  hotbeds  of 
revolution  and  sedition.’  The  ambassador  replied,  ‘In  your  own 
national  schools,  even  here  at  the  capital,  during  the  last  five  years 
you  have  arrested,  punished,  and  sent  into  exile  hundreds  of  young 
men  for  disloyalty;  give  me  an  instance  where  you  or  your  of¬ 
ficers  have  traced  a  single  case  of  seditious  propaganda  or  revolu¬ 
tion  to  an  American  missionary  school.’  The  grand  vizier  was 
forced  to  acknowledge  that  he  could  not  name  a  case.” 

We  believe  this  statement  will  hold  true  throughout  the 
entire  mission  world.  The  influence  of  the  missionary  on 
the  social,  intellectual,  political,  moral  and  spiritual  life  of 
the  people  cannot  be  estimated.  The  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  has  448  institutions  of  learning  in  the 
Chinese  empire.  In  the  year  1911-12  the  Presbyterian 
Board  spent  $455,000  in  various  forms  of  Christian  service 
in  China.  In  Lien  Chou,  where  in  1905  occurred  the  mas¬ 
sacre  of  missionaries  and  native  Christians,  we  find  in  1912 
the  highest  civil  offices  in  two  out  of  three  counties  are 
held  by  Christians.  The  provincial  delegate  with  plenary 
power  to  install  the  new  popular  government  is  a  Christian. 
Important  military  and  civil  positions  are  held  by  Chris¬ 
tians.  The  newly  elected  superintendent  of  agriculture  and 
industry  is  a  Christian.  The  Christians  are  the  most  alert, 
the  most  courageous,  the  most  public-spirited  citizens. 
What  is  true  of  Lien  Chou  is  true  in  a  measure  of  all  China. 


11 


The  missionary  as  such  took  no  part  whatever  in  the  pol¬ 
icies  eventuating  in  the  new  republic.  He  is  a  citizen  of  the 
true  commonwealth,  where  the  fatherhood  of  God,  the 
brotherhood  of  man  and  the  whole  spiritual  teachings  of 
the  Gospel  are  dominant.  Yet  his  school,  his  hospital,  as 
well  as  his  Church,  stand  for  a  large  Gospel  of  the  King¬ 
dom.  Professor  Moore  well  says: 

“Is  not  the  school  an  expression,  in  and  of  itself,  of  the  Christian 
longing  to  know  the  truth  and  to  be  set  free  by  it,  and  to  give  to 
others  the  freedom  of  the  life  which  is  by  the  truth? 

“Is  not  the  hospital  itself  an  expression  of  the  Christian  doc¬ 
trine  of  mercy  and  loving  kindness  and  solicitude  for  the  dis¬ 
tresses  of  men?  .  .  .  and  does  not  the  frank  and  fearless,  but 
at  the-same  time  scrupulously  honorable  and  gentlemanly,  exerting 
of  the  influence  of  the  Christian  character  on  the  part  of  physi¬ 
cians  and  teachers  present  exactly  the  same  problem  in  China 
and  Japan  that  it  presents  here  in  our  own  midst?  And  is  not 
this  the  real  contagion  of  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel?” 

Under  God  the  missionary  has  been  a  potent  power  in 
doing  away  with  many  abuses  and  introducing  much  needed 
reforms.  He  has  done  this  and  yet  retained  the  confidence, 
esteem,  good-will  of  the  rulers,  and  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  because  he  has  steadfastly  refused  to  ally  him¬ 
self,  his  school,  his  hospital,  or  his  Church  with  things  po¬ 
litical.  The  fact  that  an  American  was  chosen  by  the  Per¬ 
sian  Parliament  to  supervise  the  financial  affairs  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment  was  due  in  no  small  part  to  the  suggestion  of 


12 


members  of  the  Persian.  Parliament  who  formerly  were 
pupils  in  the  mission  schools  in  Persia.  It  is  yet  to  be  seen 
whether  what  has  been  well  designated  the  Strangling  of 
Persia”  by  the  two  so-called  Christian  nations  will  become 
an  accomplished  fact.  There  are  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  Persians  who  have  been  taught  a  Gospel  which  cannot 
brook  injustice,  cruelty  or  oppression.  The  hope  of  Persia 
to-day  is  in  the  men  and  women  stamped  with  the  image 
and  superscription  of  Jesus. 

Possibly  the  most  delicate  position  which  any  group  of 
missionaries  have  ever  faced  is  now  being  met  by  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  Korea.  It  has  at  no  time  been  an  easy  task  for 
the  Christian  missionary  to  carry  on  his  work  under  the 
Japanese  government.  Dr.  Walton,  in  an  able  article  on 
“Christianity  and  the  Japanese  Government,”  writes: 

“Every  school  in  the  country  was  encouraged,  if  not  actually 
compelled,  to  have  a  Shinto  shrine  upon  the  school  premises.  On 
stated  festivals  the  children  of  the  elementary  schools  were  taken 
en  masse  to  ‘worship’  at  the  Shinto  shrines,  and  elementary  school 
masters  were  assembled  at  various  centres  to  hear  a  course  of 
lectures  from  Education  Office  officials  on  faith  and  morals,  very 
much  to  the  detriment  of  Christianity. 


In  a  land  where  such  ideas  are  dominant  it  has  not  been 
an  easy  task  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  King  of  Kings. 
A  Japanese  merchant  said  to  a  merchant  friend  of  mine. 

13 


“We  put  our  Mikado  where  you  put  your  Christ.”  This 
was  his  conception  of  the  Gospel.  The  situation  to-day  in 
Korea  is  most  difficult.  The  Japanese  government,  through 
its  officials  has  seen  fit  to  arrest  and  imprison  many  of 
the  leading  Korean  teachers,  evangelists  and  preachers, 
charging  them  with  conspiracy  against  the  government. 
Many  of  these  men  for  years  have  been  the  leading  Chris¬ 
tians,  honored  and  respected  by  missionary  and  native 
alike.  The  churches  have  lost  pastors  who  for  years  have 
given  evidence  of  conversion  by  living  “soberly,  righteous¬ 
ly  and  godly  in  this  present  world.”  We  pass  no  judgment 
on  the  Japanese  government.  We  mention  it  as  showing 
the  delicate  situation  in  which  the  missionary  and  native 
Christians  are  placed.  No  one  questions  that  the  strongest 
power  in  Korea  outside  of  the  government  is  the  Christian 
Church.  The  total  number  of  communicants  and  adherents 
and  those  favoring  Christianity  is  not  far  from  400,000. 
They  are  largely  imbued  with  Christian  ideas  and  ideals. 
They  would  be  a  menace  to  the  government  if  they  were 
not  animated  and  controlled  by  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  high-minded  Japanese  officials, 
zealous  for  the  best  interests  of  their  country  and  not  un¬ 
derstanding  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  might  fear  such  com¬ 
pany.  It  would  be  easy  to  see  in  them  Socialists,  Anar- 

14 


chists,  and  enemies  of  the  State.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
neither  the  missionary  nor  the  native  Christian  has  raised 
any  revolt.  The  missionary  has  gone  to  God  in  prayer. 
The  native  Church  is  upon  its  knees.  If  there  is  any  sign 
of  revolution  the  most  scrupulous  examination  on  the  part 
of  the  missionaries  has  failed  to  reveal  it.  Here  is  an  ex 
hibition  which  the  world  has  rarely  witnessed  of  the  finer 
qualities  of  Christian  character — an  exhibit  of  the  true  rela¬ 
tion  between  the  Church  and  State.  The  Korean  Church, 
which  has  manifested  such  wonderful  vitality  and  marvel¬ 
lous  evangelistic  fervor  in  the  day  of  its  prosperity,  is  now 
in  its  hour  of  suffering  and  sorrow,  in  the  day  of  adversity, 
exhibiting  the  full  content  of  the  Gospel.  We  believe  that 
Japan  will  yet  see  that  those  “who  render  unto  God  the 
things  which  be  God’s”  are  the  most  loyal,  self-sacrificing, 
devoted  followers  of  Caesar. 

In  China  2,000  Christians  assembled  in  the  City  of  Peking 
and  sent  congratulations  to  the  new  President  of  the  re¬ 
public.  This  was  their  duty  as  Christian  citizens. 

A  conference  was  called  not  many  months  ago  by  Yuan 
Shi  Kai  and  other  leading  men  connected  with  the  Chinese 
government.  Prominent  Christian  leaders  representing 
various  denominations  were  invited.  It  was  proposed 

by  a  prominent  Chinese  that  Christianity  should  be  made 

15 


the  State  religion  of  the  republic.  All  the  representatives 
of  the  Christian  religion  present  strongly  urged  this  should 
not  be  done,  showing  how  unjust  it  would  be  to  the  Mo¬ 
hammedans,  to  the  Buddhists  and  other  sects  in  China. 
The  missionaries  also  made  clear  that  it  would  be  in  viola¬ 
tion  of  the  very  spirit  of  the  Master,  who  said:  “Render 
unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar’s  and  unto  God 
the  things  which  are  God’s.” 

This  action  of  the  missionaries  is  in  accord  with  the  mis¬ 
sionary  policy  throughout  the  world. 

It  has  been  well  said: 

“The  pioneer  missionaries  of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth 
centuries  stood  almost  alone  in  their  struggle  against  selfishness, 
lust,  corruption,  injustice,  and  un-Christian  social  conditions  .  .  . 
now,  among  the  children  and  grandchildren  of  these  same  people, 
there  is  a  growing  realization  of  the  imperfections  of  their  ancient 
institutions  and  customs,  a  resentful  feeling  of  their  inferiority  as 
competitors  in  the  industrial  and  military  struggles  of  the  world, 
and  a  resolute  determination  to  prepare  themselves  to  demand  and 
secure  recognition  as  self-respecting  members  of  the  family  of 
nations.” 

This  is  the  outcome  of  the  growth  of  the  Christian  spirit. 
The  future  uplift  of  the  world  can  only  come  from  citizens 
imbued  with  the  true  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  past  seventy-five  years  of  organized  Foreign  Mis- 
sion  service  has  shown  a  flood  of  light  on  the  text, 

“Godliness  is  profitable  for  the  life  that  now  is  as  well  as 

16 


that  which  is  to  come.”  The  foreign  missionary  of  sev¬ 
enty-five  years  ago  faced  social  conditions  of  which  we  can 
form  little  conception. 

I  am  aware  of  deplorable  social  conditions  in  our  modern 
society.  Miss  Jane  Addams,  in  her  last  volume,  “The  New 
Conscience  and  an  Ancient  Evil,”  has  laid  bare  this  fester¬ 
ing  sore.  We  should  hide  our  heads  in  shame  that  after 
these  centuries  of  teachings  such  conditions  are  possible. 
But  they  are  exceptions.  In  non-Christian  lands  seventy- 
five  years  ago  the  missionary  met  a  mass  of  wickedness,  of 
corruption,  of  bestial  social  conditions  which  it  is  difficult 
for  us  to  realize.  The  popular  gods  of  India  even  now  are 
the  triple  incarnation  of  sensuality,  of  deviltry,  of  cruelty, 
known  as  Krishna,  Ganesh  and  Kali.  Buddhism,  Shinto¬ 
ism,  Confucianism,  Islamism  and  Paganism  have  had  full 
sway  in  China,  in  Turkey,  in  the  Islands  of  the  Sea  and 
darkest  Africa,  and  yet  no  one  can  question  their  utter  fail¬ 
ure  to  meet  and  remedy  existing  social  conditions.  The 
missionary  has  given  us  an  exhibit  of  how  the  Gospel  when 
it  is  presented  in  its  fullness  is  profitable  for  the  life  that 
now  is.” 

A  group  of  Japanese  business  men  and  statesmen  visited 

the  United  States  last  year.  The  thing  that  impressed  them 
most  was  the  number  and  character  of  our  philanthropic 


17 


institutions.  In  the  Japan  Year  Book  for  1909  we  read: 

“It  is  a  significant  fact  that  by  far  the  greater  part  of  private 
charity  work  of  any  large  scope  is  conducted  by  Christians,  both 
native  and  alien,  and  that  the  part  played  by  Buddhists  in  this 
direction  is  shamefully  out  of  proportion  to  their  number.” 

Japan  is  easily  the  leading  nation  among  the  non-Chris¬ 
tian  nations.  If  it  is  true  of  Japan,  it  is  doubly  true  of  other 
nations. 

The  Okayama  Christian  Orphanage  in  Japan  is  the  larg¬ 
est  institution  of  its  kind  in  the  empire.  At  Matsuyama 
there  is  a  home  for  factory  girls.  In  the  last  report  of  the 
Japanese  Mission  I  read  an  account  of  slum  work  carried 
on  for  the  employees  of  the  factory  at  Osaka,  the  great 
manufacturing  centre  of  Japan.  Leper  homes,  homes  for 

ex-convicts,  Red  Cross  work,  and  other  benevolent  enter- 

% 

prises  owe  their  origin  and  maintenance  largely  to  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  and  native  Christians. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  Hume,  of  the  American  Board,  gave  a  sig¬ 
nificant  illustration  of  the  expansion  of  the  Gospel  idea  in 
India  as  related  to  women: 

“First — Foreign  missionary  women  working  for  non-Christian 
Indian  women. 

“Second — Foreign  missionary  women  training  Indian  Christian 
women  to  work  for  their  non-Christian  sisters. 

“Third — Indian  Christian  women  themselves  working  for  their 
non-Christian  sisters. 


18 


“Fourth — Non-Christian  Indian  women  working  for  their  less 
favored,  non-Christian  sisters.” 

This  last  is  most  significant.  No  institution  in  all  India 
is  more  illustrative  of  this  whole  theme  than,  the  Seva* 
Sadan  Society”  or  “The  House  of  Service  Society,”  whose 
motto  is,  “Life  is  a  trust  for  loving,  self-sacrificing  service, 
and  we  are  all  one  at  core  if  not  in  creed.” 

In  the  “Indian  Social  Reformer,”  a  periodical  published 
in  Bombay,  is  the  following  appeal  from  this  society : 

.  “There  are  millions  of  widows  in  India;  we  want  specially  to 
carve  out  useful  careers  for  them  and  generally  to  utilize  the  raw 
material  of  humanity  now  wasted.  If  it  is  patriotic  to  manufacture 
our  own  cotton  and  wool,  is  it  not  even  more  patriotic  to  manu¬ 
facture  our  own  human  raw  material  into  daughters  of  God  and 
sisters  to  humanity?  Foreign  Missions  spend  nearly  a  crore  of 
rupees  on  India.  W ill  you  not  help  the  Seva  Sadan  to  help  the 
women  of  India?” 

The  society  unites  Hindus,  Mohammedans,  Sikhs  and 
Parsees  in  one  great  effort  to  realize  the  Christian  ideal. 
It  will  fail  in  its  ultimate  purpose  because  it  needs  the  di¬ 
vine  motive  which  comes  alone  from  Jesus  Christ.  But 
the  fact  of  its  existence  is  a  missionary  fact. 

In  India  there  are  144,000,000  women,  of  whom  only 
7,000  can  read  and  write. 

Miss  S.  M.  Wherry,  of  India,  writes; 

“A  Hindu  woman  tells  me  that  ‘we  Indian  women  are  like  a 
frog  in  a  well.  Beauty  everywhere,  but  we  cannot  see  it.’ 


19 


“The  Hindus  are  opening  schools  for  girls,  as  few  send  their 
girls  to  the  Christian  schools.  In  Dehra  they  are  trying  to  com¬ 
pete  with  the  Presbyterian  High  School.  All  this  is  being  done 
by  non-Christians  and  without  Christ.  .  .  .  They  are  imitating 

us  and  thinking  it  is  sufficient.  A  zealous  Arya  said  to  one  of  our 
pastors:  ‘You  may  as  well  quit  now.’  He  said:  ‘Why  so?’  The 
Arya  said:  ‘We  have  everything  you  have — schools,  hospitals,  etc.’  ’’ 

This  is  sad.  It  means  new  problems  for  the  missionary. 
It  is  a  testimony,  however,  to  the  impact  which  the  Gospel 
is  making. 

The  famine  in  China  has  for  three  generations  exhibited 
the  Gospel.  More  than  sixty  missionaries  the  past  year 
have  given  practically  their  entire  time  to  famine  relief. 
One  Presbyterian  missionary  who  has  given  most  of  his 
time  for  two  years  to  famine  relief  writes: 

“We  have  attempted  to  prove,  first,  that  it  is  folly  for  the  gov¬ 
ernment  and  benevolent  associations  to  pour  money  year  after 
year  into  this  famine  region  for  free  relief.  We  have  to  show  that 
real  valuable  work  could  be  done  even  while  famine  is  in  progress 
with  money  thus  contributed,  and,  furthermore,  we  have  tried  from 
the  beginning  to  make  plain  that  famine  must  recur  in  Anhwei 
and  Kiangsu  until  the  real  cause  of  these  famines  is  dealt  with. 
...  I  am  hopeful  that  before  this  committee  lays  down  this 
work  it  will  have  succeeded  in  making  clear  to  the  government 
that  the  time  has  come  when  it  must  take  steps  to  prevent  the 
constant  recurrence  of  these  famines,  and  I  believe  if  we  can  suc¬ 
ceed  in  doing  this  we  shall  have  carried  out  part  of  our  Christian 
mission  to  this  country  and  made  life  livable  for  hundreds  of 
thousands  who  otherwise  must  be  constantly  on  the  point  of 
starvation.” 


20 


These  are  the  words  of  a  missionary.  This  is  the  Gospel 
in  action,  a  Gospel  a  part  of  whose  aim  is  to  “make  life 
livable.”  A  little  lad  who  was  brought  to  the  hospital  at 
Hwai  Yuen,  when  asked  where  the  rest  of  the  family  was, 
replied:  “There  is  only  me.”  Hundreds  of  “only  me’s” 
have  been  rescued  during  these  famine  months.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  has  been  the  foremost  leader  in  exhibiting  this 
phase  of  Gospel  teaching. 

In  Laos  a  great  malarial  epidemic  has  swept  over  the 
land.  The  missionary  and  his  co-laborers  under  the  Provi¬ 
dence  of  God  have  been  able  to  stay  the  progress  of  the 
disease.  We  read  of  hundreds  turning  to  Christ,  recogniz¬ 
ing  in  this  philanthropic  and  humanitarian  work  the  hand 
of  the  Master. 

The  “Japan  Mail,”  in  a  recent  article,  declared  that  the 
graduates  of  the  E.  A.  Hackett  Medical  College  for  women 
in  Canton  had  been  instrumental  in  exerting  marvellous 
changes  in  the  way  of  sanitation  and  hygiene  in  Chinese 
homes. 

Industrial  work  had  progressed  so  rapidly  at  Elat,  West 
Africa,  that  the  missionary  asked  for  a  saw-mill.  The  engine 
for  this  mill,  in  the  course  of  transportation  into  the  Kam- 
erun  country,  broke  through  a  bridge.  The  natives  won¬ 
dered  how  this  huge  mass  of  metal  could  be  raised  up. 


21 


When  they  saw  the  missionary  using  the  “jack,”  they  cried 
out,  “Entete,  Buiu,”  which  means  “100  Bulu  men.”  It 
dawned  on  their  minds  that  this  little  machine  was  doing 
the  work  of  100  men.  This  is  a  parable  of  what  the  Gospel 
is  doing  in  West  Africa.  In  the  school  at  Elat  the  roll 
numbers  1,200.  Estimated  expense  for  the  year  1912-13, 
$9,860.  Estimated  receipts  on  the  field,  $9,360,  leaving  the 
amount  to  be  raised  in  America,  $500.  In  addition,  in  the 
village  schools  connected  with  this  station  extending  out 
145  miles,  all  of  them  taught  by  native  Christian  lads,  there 
are  4,000  pupils.  Cost  to  the  American  Church,  nothing. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  this  country  was  peopled  by  savage 
men — cannibals,  polygamists,  fetich  worshippers.  The 
change  was  wrought,  not  by  your  school,  or  hospital,  or 
saw-mill,  but  by  the  divine  character  of  the  Gospel.  Yet  we 
must  not  blind  our  eyes  to  the  outward  and  visible  evi¬ 
dences  in  the  home,  in  school,  in  life.  This  is  a  missionary 
exhibit.  The  Gospel,  if  it  is  proclaimed  aright,  must  change 
the  life  of  the  people. 

Great  problems  remain.  The  East  is  being  filled  with 
Western  materialistic  ideas.  The  industrial  revolution  is 
creating  slum  problems  in  the  East.  The  poverty  of  the 
East  renders  it  impossible  to  maintain  philanthropic  and 

industrial  institutions  which  have  saved  the  West.  Secu- 

22 


lar  education  is  surpassing  that  of  the  Mission  school. 
These  are  great  problems,  but  the  life  in  Christ,  the  sacri¬ 
fices  which  spring  from  the  cross,  the  consecration  which 
arises  out  of  contact  with  a  living  Saviour  will  be  sufficient 
to  meet  and  settle  all  problems.  What  we  claim  to-day  is 
that  the  missionary  exhibits  a  Gospel  “which  is  profitable 
for  the  life  which  now  is  as  well  as  that  which  is  to  come.” 

Foreign  Missions  exhibits  as  never  before  that 
Christianity  fe  the  final  religion;  it  shows  the  unique¬ 
ness  of  t_he  life  and  personality  of  Jesus  Christ. 

No  fact  is  more  potent  in  recent  history  than  the  changed 
attitude  of  thinking  men  toward  non-Christian  religions. 
This  has  largely  been  brought  about  by  contact  of  the 
missionary  with  the  representatives  of  non-Christian  relig¬ 
ions.  Buddhist  temples  are  arising  with  surprising  rapid¬ 
ity  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Followers  of  Buddhism,  Islamism 
and  Bahaism  can  be  found  in  New  York,  Chicago  and  San 
Francisco,  yet  it  was  never  clearer  than  to-day  that  the 
non-Christian  religions  are  inadequate  to  meet  the  deep 
wants  of  the  soul.  The  missionary  has  forced  the  issue. 
The  battle  is  on.  The  publishing  of  such  a  book  as  Robert 
E.  Speer’s  “Light  of  the  World”  is  significant.  Within  a 
twelve-month  thousands  have  been  studying  this  and  sim¬ 
ilar  volumes  in  which  the  best  there  is  in  non-Christian 


23 


religions  is  contrasted  with  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel. 
The  Gospel  has  not  suffered  by  the  contrast,  by  the  com¬ 
parison,  the  contact.  Jesus  Christ  was  never  so  exalted 
among  men  as  to-day. 

In  the  second  sermon  preached  in  connection  with  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  from  the  text,  “Let  this  mind 
be  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus”  (Phil.  2:5-8),  the 
preacher  made  the  theme  of  his  discussion:  “What  would 
have  been  the  state  of  the  world  to-day  if  the  same  mind 
had  been  in  Christ  that  is  in  us?”  The  mind  of  the  Christ 
is  the  content  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  not  a  doctrine,  it  is  a 
life.  No  one  fact  stands  out  more  clearly  in  mission  history 
of  the  last  seventy-five  years  than  the  naturalization  of 
Christianity  in  non-Christian  lands.  The  Gospel  is  not 
American,  or  European,  or  Oriental,  or  Occidental ;  it  is  for 
all  climes  and  all  peoples. 

It  is  a  life;  therefore,  its  manifestations  are  various.  Ding 
Lee  Mai,  the  apostle  of  China,  who  has  led  thousands  to 
Christ,  is  unlike  the  great  Indian  preacher  and  apostle,  Dr. 
Chatterjee.  Baron  Yun  Chi  Ho,  now  on  trial  for  his  life 
in  Korea,  a  cultured,  educated,  refined  Christian  gentleman, 
differs  widely  from  Africaner,  the  African  chief  whom  Mof¬ 
fat  brought  to  Christ.  The  Gospel  adapts  itself  to  the  life 


24 


of  all  peoples.  It  is  not  an  exotic;  it  flourishes  in  all  lands. 
The  early  missionaries  who  went  to  China  were  branded  as 
teachers  of  a  foreign  religion.  To-day  the  Chinese  call  the 
Gospel  their  own. 

A  devoted  missionary  in  China  was  once  pleading  for 
denominationalism,  and  two  learned  Chinese  pastors  were 
heard  to  say:  “He  is  right  to  stand  up  for  his  ancestors, 
but  his  ancestors  are  not  our  ancestors.”  The  dynamic 
power  of  the  Gospel  is  not  limited  to  any  land  or  any 

people. 

In  the  church  at  Elat,  where  are  four  thousand  catechu¬ 
mens  under  instruction,  there  died  this  year  an  old  chief. 
For  eight  years  he  had  witnessed  a  good  profession.  As 
he  passed  away  he  cried:  “Mbolo  Nkukum.  As  the  gates 
of  heaven  flew  open  he  cried:  “Welcome,  my  great  Lord!” 
The  old  word,  “Nkukum,”  meant  to  him  a  rich  man,  a  great 
man,  a  kingly  man,  but  just  as  Saint  Paul  took  the  Greek 
word  “virtue”  and  filled  it  with  a  larger  meaning,  so  that 
when  he  said :  “If  there  be  any  virtue”  he  lifted  it  far  out 
of  its  old  Greek  idea  and  filled  it  with  Christ,  so  this  old 
African  chief  took  his  native  word  “Nkukum”  and  filled  it 
with  the  full  content  of  the  Gospel.  He  did  not  lose  his 
individuality,  his  personality,  his  nationality.  He  was  using 
the  language  of  his  race,  but  transformed  by  the  vital  touch 

25 


of  the  Gospel  which  had  become  naturalized  in  him  and  in 
his  people.  No  new  method  of  agriculture,  no  introduction 
of  modern  industry,  no  school  system  could  have  wrought 
this  change  in  the  life  of  the  old  chief.  It  was  the  life  in 
Christ  which  found  him  yesterday,  heathen;  to-day,  civil¬ 
ized;  yesterday,  savage;  to-day,  Christian. 

In  the  Korean  Church  one  in  six  of  the  Church  members 
is  engaged  in  Christian  service.  September,  1912,  the  Ko¬ 
rea  General  Assembly  was  organized.  It  included  40,000 
church  members,  160,000  adherents,  but  this  exhibit,  great 
as  it  is,  fades  before  the  exhibit  of  the  courage,  the  faith, 
the  simplicity,  the  Christlike  life  of  these  men,  of  whom  we 
were  once  told,  “Oh,  they  are  the  despised  Koreans,  an 
inferior  race!” 

The  best  apologetic  of  recent  years  is  not  to  be  found  in 
the  great  work  of  Dr.  Denny,  “Jesus  and  the  Gospel,”  or 
the  admirable  presentation  of  Dr.  Mackenzie’s  “The  Final 
Faith,”  or  that  wondrous  little  volume,  “The  Fact  of 
Christ.”  If  you  want  “Jesus  and  the  Gospel,”  the  mission¬ 
ary  points  you  to  the  Boxer  martyrs  in  China.  If  you  want 
“The  Final  Faith,”  the  missionary  points  you  to  the  Church 
in  Kamerun,  born  out  of  heathenism.  If  you  want  “The 
Fact  of  Christ,”  the  missionary  points  you  to  India,  Persia, 
the  Philippines — living  facts,  a  Gospel  exhibit. 


26 


It  is  true  the  Gospel,  because  of  its  simplicity,  has  been 
translated  into  all  languages,  but  it  is  much  more  true  that 
the  life  which  is  in  Christ  has  been  translated  into  all  lives 
where  there  is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew,  Barbarian  or  Scyth¬ 
ian,  bond  nor  free,  “but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all.” 

ABRAM  WOODRUFF  HALSEY. 


Tabulated  Results  of  Seventy-five  Years 

Twenty-six  missions  with  162  stations — 1,081  missionaries  with 
2,334  native  helpers.  Of  the  636  organized  native  churches,  177 
are  self-supporting.  Total  membership  is  115,976.  The  schools 
number  1,707  with  a  total  of  155,982  pupils.  Ten  printing  presses 
are  in  operation  with  an  output  for  1911-12  of  135,963,274  pages. 
The  hospitals  and  dispensaries  number  167  and  treated  last  year 
nearly  500,000  patients.  The  total  amount  of  gifts  from  native 
sources  (in  gold)  for  church  expenses,  educational  and  medical 
work  and  buildings  and  repairs,  amounted  to  $501,192. 

The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  carries  on  work  in  the  prisons, 
for  the  blind,  the  poor,  the  insane,  for  soldiers,  for  lepers;  relief 
work  of  various  kinds,  rescue  work;  sustains  orphanages,  and  a 
home  for  widows  in  India. 


156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 
September,  1912. 


97 


The  Willett  Press,  New  York 


I 


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